


Tempo di Valse

by ultimateparadox



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Ending, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Gen, Hostage Situations, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injury, Slavery, Threats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22025551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultimateparadox/pseuds/ultimateparadox
Summary: Grima wins, but the decay of the world is not instantaneous.
Kudos: 10





	Tempo di Valse

The platform had been dusted when she began her dance, but it'd been hours and the rough stone beneath her bare feet was destroying her. Her legs burned and there was a distinct, sharp ache in her hips. It felt like the flesh of her feet was eroding away. Still, Olivia wouldn't dare stop, not while the Fell Dragon sat as her audience on a great throne of obsidian.

She wouldn't dare stop while Inigo sat at the Fell Dragon's feet, head on its lap, hair tangled in its deceptively gentle fingers.

Time stopped being of importance when they lost their tactician to Grima's influence. It didn't matter how long ago Ylisse had lost to the Risen forces after the fall of the exalted prince. It didn't matter how long she danced before those eyes, back-lit with dark fire, but it did matter that she could not stop.

Inigo sat silently in his place. He didn't talk much anymore, not since the Fell Dragon swung the splintered remains of the exalted falchion through his ankle and left it half-healed. He would hobble back to the cold, rocky cell they called a home after every performance, unable to move quickly and surely unable to ever dance like he dreamed.

Dreams were no longer allowed.

The dark throne and raised platform were seated neatly in the ruins of Ylisstol. The castle, crushed under Grima's power, was shadowed black where it blocked the setting sun, appearing as if it was charred in flames. In the distance, the music Olivia danced to was the snarling, wet mess of Risen wreaking havoc in the carnage.

She danced and danced, swirling up dirt and sweating until the sky went dark and the stars peeked out at the desolation down below. The sweat on her skin chilled her in the dropping temperature, but her feet stayed warm as she bled. It was the longest Grima had ever demanded her perform, a far cry from the pleasantly asked requests it had when it was purely Robin. Sometimes Olivia thought that there was some influence from their grand tactician's memories in the Fell Dragon, but she couldn't tell if she preferred this twisted amalgam of Robin's memories and Grima's cruelty, or if she wished that Robin had vanished altogether and let death finally claim their friends and loved ones.

Tired and overworked, one of Olivia's feet caught on her other ankle, sending her tumbling to the platform. The impact hurt, but the relief of finally being still overwhelmed her to the point of tears. She saw Inigo raise his head and stare at her with something like disbelief in his hazy eyes, and something like betrayal, for she had stopped dancing.

Instead of retribution for her failure, however, Grima began to applaud with heavy, slow claps. Delight spilled forth in throaty laughter. "A truly marvelous performance, as always. I never thought you'd last this long. To dance until you dropped, you're so amusing. Contender for best comedy act in my Ylisse." Inigo shifted away as quickly as he could on his knees as Grima rose from the throne. The first step it took shook the land to remind them that this snow-haired body was merely an avatar, an illusion, for a dragon of such might that it conquered a world. From then on its steps were light as it approached the stone platform and her prone form.

"Rise," came Grima's command. "Or perhaps I will have to replace my broken toy. I wonder if your son would make a decent replacement? Would he last even one hour with his injury? Merely a thought." Merely a threat.

Staggering to her feet was one of the hardest tasks Olivia had ever undertaken in her life. She glanced at her son when she managed to get to her knees, then resolutely stared Grima in the face as she finally pushed herself into a standing position. Her calves protested and wobbled, but she would not allow herself to fall again. 

The Fell Dragon's hands came to rest against her ribs, offering precious little support. They began a slow pilgrimage down to her hips and the lower they traveled the more it felt like claws raking in warning across her skin.

"You're resilient," Grima purred, pleased. "Perhaps I should mark you. Brand you as Grimleal. Would you like that?"

"N-no," Olivia answered as firmly as she could. Survival dictated that her nervousness would get her family killed and she had been trying desperately to stamp it out. Still, opting to deny the monster before her to its face was daunting.

"Cheeky," the dragon commented with no inflection. In a blink that human-like face was a breath away, its smooth skin hardening into pale scales, and a mouthful of layered teeth sharpening into life-ending tools. Mania-bright eyes featured pupils that narrowed to slits with an unearthly glow. "Then maybe I will mark you in other ways." A sharp tongue, black like an adder's, shot out from Grima's lips to taste her cheek. The claws on her hips pinched. "Maybe right down here. The boy could stand to learn a thing or two about where he came from, or rather, where he could have come from. He's just a relic out of time, now."

"Don't touch her," Inigo croaked, pounding a fist into the dirt. It was the first time he'd spoken in days, leaving his voice rough and cracked, but his anger was not dampened by it.

Silence shrouded them. The hands on her hips seized and whatever spell the Fell Dragon cast struck her with titanic force. Flung back and screaming, hips bleeding from the claws scraping skin from her muscle, Olivia smacked to the ground beyond the platform, wheezing for air.

"Human worms," crooned Grima, looking towards the moon hanging in the sky. The light reflected back in its eyes like a beast's. "The strength of will matters much to you. When will you realize," the dragon turned to Inigo, who was struggling to stand on his damaged ankle, "that just like time, it doesn't matter."

From the dirt, gasping and coughing, blood running down her legs, Olivia could no longer see her son as Grima's form blocked him from her sight. It did not stop her from hearing a fleshy thud as a body hit the ground, a wail of pain and despair. 

The Fell Dragon Grima roared.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm sorry my first Awakening piece is hurt no comfort.


End file.
